A Commentary on the Book of Psalms: Psalm 31 — The Second Penitential Psalm
6 The prophet now asserts that many will follow his example, and from it learn to have recourse to God, to ask pardon for their sins, and thus to be delivered from the great evils consequent on sin. The meaning is, As you so mercifully pardon those who do penance, “every one that is holy,” every pious person that is truly holy, truly penitent, and, having begun to hate sin, seeks to enter into the love of you, “shall pray to thee,” and will have confidence in their prayers, and that “in a seasonable time,” before the time of mercy shall have passed away; while we are here below, while God invites us to penance. “Seek the Lord while he can be found; invoke him while he is near,” says Isaias. The second part of the verse has a double meaning; one is, Every one that is holy shall pray to thee in a seasonable time, that “in the flood of many waters, they shall not come nigh unto him;” that is, that on the day of judgment, when all manner of punishments shall pour down upon the wicked like a deluge, and the opportune season of prayer and penance shall have passed, that then they may be saved from such punishments. This appears very clear in the Hebrew. The second meaning is, “Every one that is holy shall pray to thee in a seasonable time,” and will act well and wisely in doing so; because, “in the flood of many waters,” when the wicked shall be inundated with calamities, as the earth was with water in the time of Noe, then the wicked “shall not come nigh unto him;” that is, to God, having let their opportunity pass.
7 Having obtained remission of the sin, he now asks for remission of the punishment due to it; namely, his deliverance from the tribulation brought on him by the sin. He seems to allude to the persecution he was suffering from his son Absalom, of which he had said so much in the previous Psalm. Alludes also, perhaps, to the temptations of the evil spirits, that perpetually surround and harass us. “Thou art my refuge from the trouble which hath encompassed me.” My friends have deserted me, my enemies hem me in and surround me on all sides, and I, therefore, have no certain refuge but in thy mercy, O God; you alone, then, are “my joy,” the cause of it, and deliver me, therefore, from them.
8 The Lord answers his prayer, and promises him the help he sought. He promises him three things. First, interior prudence, to enable him to guard against the snares of his enemies, and to distinguish them from his friends; that is conveyed in the words, “I will give thee understanding;” I will make thee intelligent and prudent. Secondly, the outward assistance of the singular providence of God, without which even the most prudent get into the greatest difficulties, and that is conveyed in the words, “I will instruct thee in this way in which thou shalt go.” Thirdly, perseverance in grace, which is the greatest favor of all, and peculiarly belongs to the elect. “I will fix my eyes upon thee;” I will not take them off you, but I will steadily and constantly look upon you with an eye of benignity, so that you shall never need the internal aid of prudence, or the external protection of providence.
9 The prophet now exhorts all, both good and bad, to learn from his example the evils consequent on sin, and the blessings to be derived from penance and virtue, he having tasted of both. Turning to the wicked first, he says, “Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding.” Endowed with reason, but not guided by your animal propensities; be not like the horse and the mule in your licentious desires, as I was; be not like the horse and the mule, in tearing and lashing at your fellow creatures, as I have been in regard of Urias. “With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near unto thee.” He foretells the calamities in store for those who will act the part of the horse and the mule towards their neighbor. They will be forced by tribulations either to return to God, or will be prevented from injuring their neighbors to the extent they intended; but, as usual, this prophetic warning is expressed as if it were an imprecation. You will force those wicked men to obey you, as you would subdue a horse or a mule, with a bit and bridle, and make them obedient to you. The words bit and bridle are used in a metaphorical sense to signify the crosses and trials that God has sometimes recourse to, as he explains in the following verse.
10 An explanation of the bit and bridle. The impenitent sinner, still attached to sin, will be flayed with many a lash, both in this world and in the next. For, though sinners sometimes prosper, their sinful state is, in reality, a most grievous punishment, bringing with it punishments innumerable, solicitudes, anxieties, fears, dangers, remorse of conscience, and the like; nay, more; God, being a just judge, adds many other scourges; and, unless the sinner repent, and pray to God in the fitting season, he will undoubtedly come under the lash of the scourge that is everlasting. On the other hand the just man, who confides in the Lord, and not in human vanity, is so surrounded on all sides by the divine mercy, that the scourge cannot touch him on any side. Now, the divine mercy is the fountain of all good, and, therefore, when he says, “Mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord,” he means to give us some idea of the immense amount of blessings that those who attach themselves to God alone shall abundantly enjoy.
11 Having pronounced the just to be happy, in the beginning of the Psalm, he now in the end of it exhorts them to be glad, being a sort of indirect exhortation to persevere in justice, that their joy may be continuous also. “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just, and glory all ye right of heart.” You just have great reason for rejoicing and gladness; but let it be “in the Lord,” who is the source of all the blessings you enjoy. Be not dejected by the losses or the rubs of this world, because in the world to come you will be amply repaid for them, in “a good measure, and pressed down, and shaken together, and running over;” while, in the meantime, you will not be left without spiritual consolation here below. “And glory all ye right of heart,” is a repetition of the same, for “glory” does not mean to be proud or puffed up, but to celebrate and sing God’s glory with joy; and the word is very generally used in the Scripture in such sense, as when the Apostle says, “We glory in tribulations.” The word glory, meaning pride and vanity, is to be found in Psalm 51, where he says, “Why do you glory in wickedness?” Here it has quite a different meaning, that of joy and gladness. By the “right of heart,” we understand the just; because, from righteousness of heart comes righteousness in word and in deed; and they are the just, whose hearts, words, and actions are conformable to that most righteous rule, the law of God, from which righteousness it comes that God becomes pleasing to man, and man to God; and whatever happens man, through God’s will or permission, is cheerfully received; and thus the heart becomes filled, not only with justice, but even “with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost,” which means the kingdom of God, as St. Paul, Rom. 14, explains it. With the greatest justice, then, David, having commenced with the expression, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,” now concludes with, “be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just;” for the just alone are happy, and are in possession of true and solid joy.